Button ID assistance, M.C. Lilley

[1320]

Dug this very cool button a few days ago but my limited research has revealed little. Looks like a Roman style, capital letter P, surrounded by a wreath. Reverse markings say M.C. Lilley & Co., Columbus O.

Jamie

 

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[Dharmacy]

I have seen these identified as Police buttons. The M.C. Lilley company started making military,state, fraternal, and police buttons and various equipments in the mid 1870's.

D.

 

[AOSDC]

It's a 1870's Police button.

 

[Montana Jim]

Cool find... nice ID too! You guys made fast work of that one!

 

[1320]

WOW! Thank you so very much!

Jamie

 

[Gypsy Heart]

Very Cool Find!!!

 

[Joe Davis]

Dug my 2nd M C Lilley & Co button today. I was excited on my 1st one thinking it was my first CW button. But a Google search told me it was most likely post CW. But after my find of the 2nd button today I did some more research and see that several people call these MCL buttons civil war. Looks like the company started in 1865. So how could these be CW?

Thanks

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Please point us to your information-source that says M.C. Lilley & Company "started in 1865". The best collectors' reference-book for dating buttons by their backmark is "American Military Button Makers And Dealers; Their Backmarks & Dates" by William F. McGuinn and Bruce S. Bazelon. According to that extremely well-researched book, the firm of M.C. Lilley & Co, Columbus Ohio was listed in that city's official Business Directory as a maker of fraternal "lodge regalia" in 1870, and is first listed as dealing in Military goods (insignia, buttons, swords, etc.) in 1876. The firm lasted through World War Two.

 

[Joe Davis]

Please point us to your information-source that says M.C. Lilley & Company "started in 1865".

Right here on this forum.

http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/what/222913-button-info.html

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Thank you for the link to the info. Unfortunately, the person who posted it is no longer a TreasureNet member, so I cannot ask him/her where the "started in 1865" info came from. I'm interested in finding the source of that info because it contradicts what the button-backmark book says about the start-date of the M.C. Lilley Company. One of that book's co-authors, Bruce Bazelon, is a personal friend of mine. He will want to hear about any info in his book that is incorrect. But I'll need solid proof that "started in 1865" is correct. I can't just say "Hey Bruce, somebody on the internet says the Lilley Company started in 1865."

The info in the backmark-book comes from researching the Columbus Ohio "City Business Directory" archives. The "City Directory" is an annual listing of every business in the city. (Most major cities have that type of Business Directory listing, published every year, going back decades or even centuries, depending on the age of the city.) It seems like if the Lilley Company was in business in 1865, it would have been listed in the 1865 City Directory. The backmark-book says "Lilley was a bookbinder and publisher who entered the business of making [fraternal] lodge regalia in 1870." If solid proof exists that Lilley started that business in 1865, Bruce Bazelon will want to know about it, to "fix" the book in its next printing. But I can't just tell him "somebody on the internet says so."